"Op's ability exceeded my expectations—he can control Nest Beasts?" Naimes quickly left the area, all the while pondering the powers Op had just revealed.

"Unfortunately, his combat skills are too weak, and his use of this ability isn’t refined enough."

"If I hadn’t intervened, he might really have been found by that person and given a chance to escape."

Naimes had only intended to return home to perform faith purification, but he sensed the battle unfolding nearby.

So he took a slight action to help Op clean up the aftermath.

Although Op was not skilled in fighting, he wasn’t slow in handling matters either.

Sure enough, those controlled by the black hairs didn’t hesitate much before pouncing one after another.

Then a large amount of black hair overflowed from their bodies, seeping into Benjamin’s corpse.

It quickly erased other traces, disguising everything here as casualties caused by a Nest Beast riot.

"A few years ago, Beiqi Village experienced a Nest Beast infestation."

"That incident was likely the source of Op’s ability," Naimes recalled from Naier’s memories about the rough details of that event.

The incident happened eight years ago when Naier had just been "exiled" here as a trainee holy knight.

His mentor was a middle-aged holy knight who was about to retire due to injury.

That retirement was caused by the Nest Beast incident.

A villager was secretly parasitized by a Nest Beast and returned to the village.

This triggered chaos—some infected ran around in panic and missed the best chance for treatment. The middle-aged holy knight had no choice but to kill them.

He himself was infected with some black hairs.

By the time the old priest arrived to treat him, it was already too late, and some of his limbs were affected, forcing his retirement.

"Op was parasitized during that incident but, for unknown reasons, didn’t seek treatment. Instead, he controlled those Nest Beast hairs through special means..."

"Most likely a wizard’s technique."

"Regardless, Op is a talented individual."

Nest Beasts are dangerous creatures, naturally attracting many researchers.

Any power is coveted by someone.

In this world, improving one’s species type is extremely difficult.

Apart from a few fixed methods, ordinary people have almost no path to advance their species.

Church relics and miracles, plus Floating Whale-related items, are currently the mainstream ways to enhance species type.

Both are tightly controlled by the church and nobility, with only a trickle reaching others.

Most who find no path to advancement resort to wild methods.

In such wild methods, people research anything with power.

Demonic powers, heretical faiths, dangerous creatures, even Disaster Beasts are subjects of study.

But most who venture into the wildlands never return.

Only a rare few gain some benefit from these methods before disasters erupt.

They either get caught by church clergy or end up destroying themselves.

Although Nest Beasts are relatively simple dangerous creatures, successfully controlling them shows Op’s competence.

"If possible, I need to try controlling Op." Naimes’s current plan required many hands.

He needed to establish his own church and amass a large amount of faith power.

These matters required capable people to manage them—not just Naimes alone.

From what he could see, Op would be a good candidate.

But people with such power are often very difficult to tame.

Especially since Op seemed to be doing quite well on his own.

He had the ability to mine whalehide ore and channels to sell it; he probably also mastered meditation techniques and some unique spells.

"Without deeper understanding, I can’t act rashly." Naimes sensed the complexities beneath this small village.

Previously, he didn’t pay much attention to Tangs, Pur, or the village guard—when action was needed, he took it. For original chapters go to novel⚑fire.net

Though these three had some skills, their behaviors revealed their limits.

No need to mention Tangs; Pur was limited by his status as a reserve village guard.

The village guard had been somewhat mysterious before, but his actions exposed his nature: summoning the small demon Kullog.

He cautiously hid his true identity from Kullog and used a reserved contract to place restrictions on it.

From this, one could roughly tell the village guard’s limit in handling matters—only up to the level of a small demon.

So when Naimes learned the village guard would go out into the wild, he directly ordered an ambush.

But with the old priest and Op, he couldn’t act the same way, as their moves were still hidden.

From the outside, Naimes appeared to be a commandment holy knight who had lost his upper limit; being able to fight general Steel Seeds was already his limit.

But in reality, Naimes’s strength surpassed what these people expected.

In a short burst, most Steel Seeds would fall before him.

"But it’s still not enough." Naimes recalled the old priest’s revealed strength as a Steel Seed, but an inexplicably ‘reclusive’ Steel Seed living in this village—who knew what trump cards the old priest might hold?

"Therefore, I still need to improve myself." Naimes was not annoyed by being entangled in this village’s complex relations but felt excited instead.

These anomalies hinted at something; if he could grasp the key behind them, he might rapidly improve his status in the material plane.

With that, he could better build his own secret church.

"Continue purifying the Divine Nails of faith." Naimes ignored the outside chaos, immersing his mind in the faith perspective brought by his divine status, carefully observing the faith and using commandments to assimilate the impurities within.

Outside, Jacques stared grimly at the ground covered in black-haired flesh fragments.

The black hairs had lost their vitality.

No priest treatment was needed anymore—there were no survivors.

Isabella covered her mouth, her expression turning sorrowful.

For some reason, being in this area with the blood scent, she vaguely sensed something connected to her.

It felt like a whisper, or a vision in a dream.

Then Isabella suddenly realized—it was a dying wish.

When her grandfather passed away, he couldn’t speak but held her hand and looked at her.

His fading breaths felt like repeated urging for her to live well in the future.

Now, she seemed to hear that breath again.

At that moment, Op arrived with people and immediately organized a lockdown.

Jacques watched the busy crowd, a flame of anger burning deep inside him.